A previous EC Report has already criticised Romania's government citing as follows :-

"Political challenges to judicial decisions, the undermining of the constitutional court, the overturning of established procedures and the removal of key checks and balances have called into question the government's commitment to respect the rule of law,".
"The Commission is in particular extremely concerned by the indications of manipulations and pressure which affect institutions, members of the judiciary, and eventually have a serious impact on society as a whole."

Following on from this, the country found it difficult to defend itself from the damaging comments made by England's Mr Nigel Farage [UKIP]. An effort to duck tape its reputation, led to an invitation to visit Romania. It is interesting that various damning indictments of Romania's poor record in animal welfare is never once mentioned by Romania's leading politicians.

They said, "Since then, the Romanian Animal Protection Authority (ASPA), which is in charge of catching and killing stray dogs, has caused outrage by publicly defying the decision, claiming to have identified "legal loopholes" which allow them to continue with the killing."

The government may well have the temerity to use taxpayers funds to appeal the judgment without electorate support. [VF Survey].

A much criticised government's irrational actions will call into question their fitness to govern. Such is the loss of confidence, more judgments against the killing law continue to be issued and a leading MEP suggested tourism to Romania should be curbed.

"The investigators visited 43 public shelters across Romania, out of 81 currently registered with the Romanian vet authorities. Up to 29 legal violations were identified, including dog corpses lying among living dogs (7% of the visited shelters), overcrowding (47%) and puppies and their mothers being kept with other dogs (42%). A mixture of food and waste, including urine and excrement, was found on the floor of the dog cages in a shocking 74% of the dog shelters visited, while residue was able to leak between cages in 63% of the shelters, according to the report.

The extent of the neglect and mistreatment revealed by the report is clearly taking its toll on the dogs housed in these shelters. Traces of blood were found in many cages, while bleeding and ill dogs were observed in several shelters and documented in video recordings. These violations mean that not only is the health of the animals and staff at risk, but also that of the local population, especially as these are public locations with visiting hours for anyone interested in visiting the shelter".

"This report reveals a systematic failure in Romanian shelters to provide stray dogs with humane housing conditions. The situation is out of control," stresses Gabriel Paun, Director of Campaigns at FOUR PAWS. "Alongside the misery we've witnessed in the public animal shelters, the illegal killing of stray dogs also continues at a pace. Although the legal framework of the killing law has been suspended, the ASPA continue to ignore the court's decision and continue capturing and killing stray dogs. We call again on the Romanian government to start cooperating with us and all relevant stakeholders to develop a humane solution and to abolish the killing law..."